By JARROD POTTER
JON Knight is no longer Noble Park’s coach.
Knight’s tenure at the EFL Division 1 club has drawn to an end after 16 matches following a mutual decision by the Bulls and the coach to go their different ways.
In a statement on the club’s social media networks, Noble Park Football Club said it was a joint decision to sever ties and wished Jon the best for his future coaching endeavours.
“The Noble Park Football Club announced tonight (Tuesday) that Jon Knight and the club have reached a mutual agreement to conclude coaching duties effective immediately,” the statement read.
“The Noble Park Football Club have started the process of appointing a new coach, and they wish Jon the very best and thank him for his service.”
Noble Park president David Allan said the decision boiled down to on-field results only and weren’t a reflection on Knight’s character.
“Jon’s a ripper bloke, there’s no doubt about that, but the club has high benchmarks and that’s most of the decision,” Allan said.
“We’d assessed where we’re at – the expectation to play finals – and we decided that we were going to look around for a coach in 2015.
“With two games to go we eventually agreed that we’d have a fresh start and a fresh approach and that’s how it happened.”
Knight finished his time at Noble Park with an 8-7-1 win-loss-draw record including one of the upsets of the season when Noble Park defeated league powerhouse Balwyn by 28 points at their home field. He arrived at Moodemere Street fresh from a three-year stint as coach of Knox.
Current player Stewart Kemperman will act as interim coach for the remaining two matches of the season.
Noble Park hosts Vermont at Pat Wright Sr Oval this Saturday before its final match of the season away at South Croydon.
Knight took the job last September after long-time premiership coach Mick Fogarty retired following the 2013 EFL grand final defeat to Balwyn.
